Even though people do more work and feel less burned out chemically with 5-minute breaks, their heart rate and how hard they feel they’re working is about the same as with 2-minute breaks.

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Increased Neuromuscular Activity, Force Output, and Resistance Exercise Volume When Using 5-Minute Compared with 2-Minute Rest Intervals Between the Sets

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2024 Sep 1

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Increased Neuromuscular Activity, Force Output, and Resistance Exercise Volume When Using 5-Minute Compared with 2-Minute Rest Intervals Between the Sets

Score: 33

DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000004832

Similar Assertions

Even though people can do more work with 5-minute breaks, they don’t feel like they’re working harder or have a higher heart rate than with 2-minute breaks.

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When doing intense leg exercises with 5-minute breaks between sets, people can do more total work than with only 2-minute breaks, because their muscles recover better.

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When doing intense leg exercises with 5-minute breaks between sets, people can do more total work than with only 2-minute breaks, which might help muscles grow stronger over time.

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When resting 5 minutes between hard leg pushes, your muscles stay more 'turned on' than when you only rest 2 minutes.

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After doing hard leg pushes, people who rest 5 minutes between sets lose much less strength than those who only rest 2 minutes.

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